Leelee Sobieski and Elijah Wood in a still from Deep Impact.Paramount Pictures
Studios these days have the decency to avoid “rival projects” that clash with each other and cannibalize audiences in the same year. Backrooms and Obsession, if anything, are fueling more interest in each other by virtue of being small-budget horror movies toppling giants at the same time. However, not too long ago, studios would simply release movies with the exact same premise within months of each other, armed with nothing more than hopes and dreams. Who can forget Friends with Benefits and No Strings Attached — two romantic comedies in which the protagonists fall in love after entering a casual relationship with each other — grossing exactly $149 million each in the same year? Only four years later, No Strings Attached star Ashton Kutcher found himself in another similar situation after playing Steve Jobs in a movie titled Jobs, which clashed with Danny Boyle‘s infinitely more imaginative biopic.
In the span of a month in 1998, Pixar released A Bug’s Life and DreamWorks debuted Antz. But inarguably the most prominent example of a clash like this took place that same year, when two studios released big-budget apocalyptic movies with a meteor hurtling toward Earth. The more popular of these two apocalyptic movies remains Michael Bay‘s Armageddon, starring Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, and a host of others. The movie received poor reviews, but has emerged as something of a cornerstone of 1990s excess in mainstream Hollywood. It grossed around $550 million worldwide against a reported budget of $140 million. However, only three months prior, Paramount released its own version of this premise: Deep Impact.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
The Matrix
Mad Max
Blade Runner
Dune
Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
Here’s Where You Can Watch ‘Deep Impact’ for Free this Month
Directed by Mimi Leder and featuring an ensemble cast that included pre-Lord of the RingsElijah Wood, pre-Angel Has FallenMorgan Freeman as the POTUS, Téa Leoni, Robert Duvall, Dougray Scott, Vanessa Redgrave and others, Deep Impact received mixed reviews. It’s now sitting at a 45% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “A tidal wave of melodrama sinks Deep Impact‘s chance at being the memorable disaster flick it aspires to be.” Armageddon holds a 42% score and has cultivated a brighter legacy. It also outgrossed Deep Impact, which made around $350 million worldwide against a reported budget of $80 million. Deep Impact is now streaming for free domestically on Tubi. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
